Fitness Entrepreneur by Day. Glamazon by Night. Sparkle All The Time.

I’m Insane!

I’m always focused on goals. I love them, always have them, and want to achieve them when I set them. This year I decided to do something to make my goals even more present in my life: I had my gal Randa at my favorite Etsy boutique Peppermint Dawn make me a custom keychain that had my specific goals for the year clearly stated on both sides. I attached it to my keys so I could be reminded of them every time the keys were in my hand.

While I have a lot of goals this year, I opted to make my keychain specific to my business goals. This is a big year for my business, so focus on what I am doing every day to reach them is important.

Everywhere I got…my goals are with me!

The other side!

While I am moving quickly toward completing every goal listed on my keychain, this past week I successfully completed one item and knocked it off the list. I became Insanity Certified.

The amazing group that killed it on their certification.

To say I was nervous about this certification was an understatement, but I knew I had to do it. I am a teacher by nature, so I have been anxious to get the credentials behind me to teach at a gym. Getting this certification would be a big part of what I needed to run my own class.

So what does a certification like this entail? For me, it meant driving to Pittsburgh and devoting an entire Sunday to the certification class. 8 hours of completing the workout moves over and over and over….proving I could do them all correctly….proving I can instruct a class….it was a lot! Fortunately for me, I had some teammates joining me so we could all complete this task together. We also were super lucky and had an incredible Master Trainer teaching us.

Elise, Me, Laura, and Laurie showing off our toughness.

For me, this certification was very personal. Two years ago was the time I was at my heaviest weight and had started my decline with depression and self esteem, alcoholism, fast food abuse, and being a lazy bum. A friend had actually given me the Insanity DVDs shortly after Christmas, and on a cold day in January I actually decided to get started with the program. The first workout in the Insanity program is the Fit Test….and it isn’t really even a workout. It is to evaluate your fitness levels to help you do you best throughout the program.

I quit it. I quit the little assessment.

And I didn’t even quit after I did it. I quit halfway through and let the program start collecting dust on my shelves among Van Wilder, my NKOTB VHS tapes, and a bunch of other items I had forgotten about.

Since then I have completed the program entirely, and I am super proud of myself for passing this certification and taking it to the next level. I am also ecstatic for one of my Sparkle Squad Emeralds, Elise. Elise begins teaching an Insanity Live class in a few weeks in Greensburg, PA, so I am extremely excited for her. Of all us, she had the most pressure coming into the certification….her gym had already put her on the schedule to teach assuming she was going to pass. Of course, she nailed it.

Loving my new Instructor jacket!

As for me, I am proud to share with you all that I will be teaching an Insanity Live class starting March 5th at the brand new Empire Fitness Studio in Ravenna. If you are local and want your butt kicked by me, mark down on your calendars that you will be joining me Thursdays at 7:30pm. I’ll be leading and inspiring you through workouts that will change every week, and thanks to my new wireless headset I can participate right next to you to get you through the moves. Best part? You pay per class, so you can come when it works with your schedule.

Too legit to quit.

So yeah….about that Fit Test. Im happy I failed at it two years ago because knowing I once gave up gives me so much more incentive now to NEVER GIVE UP AGAIN. It also helps give me the strength and power to inspire all of you to never think you are down and out and too far gone to make positive changes. Any one can do anything they put their mind to, even if they failed at it in the past. You’ve just got to want it.